Walk-on-by

A man was stabbed to death while trying to stop two muggers who had stolen a woman's bag in London this Friday. Metropolitan Police insist that “they don’t want anyone else to do it”. Is the walk-on-by culture, otherwise prevalent in London, the right way?


Sukhwinder Singh, 31, an Indian national was killed in an incident in East London. According to SkyNews.com, “Sukhwinder Singh pursued two men who robbed a 28-year-old woman near Barking station in east London.When he caught up with the pair a fight broke out and the 31-year-old was knifed.” Locals and onlookers felt that Sukhwinder was brave enough to chase the robbers along Victoria Road into Uphall Road, where he was attacked by the two muggers with knife. According to skyNews.com, “He was taken to the Royal London hospital but later died. A post-mortem is due to take place”.

This incident has once again opened the Pandora box of debate on whether people should intervene if they witnessed the crime or just walk-on-by? The Metropolitan Police has an unusual stand, a shift from their earlier statement where they suggested “walk-on-by culture fuels violent crimes”. The Met officer this time conveyed that, “We don’t want anyone else to do this”. The Met police spokesman, Guy Dehn told BBC London that “The Met is now giving a different message” He added that “there is a shift in the message coming from Met Police and that’s very welcome.” Clearly, now the Met Police is feels that they are better off dealing crimes relating to mugging than murder.

Sukhwinder was the lone bread earner for his family in India and was trying to help an Indian student, who he did not know. Although the Met Police message leaves the common men much uninspired from confronting and challenging during a crime, it can lead to less collateral damage, is what the Met police wants to believe.

Until another incident make Londoners and the Met Police think differently, walk-on-by culture is what we follow.